


Midnight Crest

by DeAnnsDrabbles



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-19
Updated: 2016-03-19
Packaged: 2018-05-27 15:00:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6289129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeAnnsDrabbles/pseuds/DeAnnsDrabbles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After discovering the world of fanfiction thanks to Alya and her favorite comic series, Marinette discovers even fans of real life superheroes write it. Between having a soft spot for a particular story and confessing her new reading habits to Chat Noir, Ladybug has unknowingly opened a whole can of worms for her partner.<br/>(Set around final year of high school, characters aged up to at least 18.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Midnight Crest

Silently, Alya and Marinette watched the spinning refresh symbol in the corner of Alya’s phone web browser with sharp eyes. The newest installment of one of Alya’s favorite comic series, Majestia, was going on sale today. Marinette had also quickly become obsessed with the series, partly to support Alya and partly to learn more for her own superhero identity. Unfortunately they were stuck in class for the next two hours before they could buy the new comic. But that didn’t mean they couldn’t see the newest cover in photos other people were uploading. Just a glimpse of the cover would be enough to get the girls through the afternoon. 

The page reloaded and a new piercing and powerful comic cover consumed Alya’s screen. Despite the fact they were both supposed to be working on an assignment the girls couldn’t contain their sharp gasps.

“Oh my god.” Alya whispered, holding her phone so tightly her hands looked like claws. Marinette’s jaw hung open as she tried to deconstruct the comic cover in front of them. Majestia’s normally bold and conquering stance was replaced with something much more tragic. The heroine’s normally vibrant costume was dulled by the dark shadows overwhelming the scene. Her eyes were downcast and behind her the dismal metal wall reminded Marinette of a morgue.

“She had to save her love interest though!” Marinette insisted in a whisper. Alya numbly nodded. In the previous chapter, Majestia’s love interest, a civilian man with a heart of gold, had been captured by Majestia’s arch nemesis in order to get to her. The love story had been a bit abrupt in the comic but as a romantic, Marinette really hadn’t minded. She always assumed Majestia would save the day like she always did. But what if this time she didn’t?

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She hadn’t. Well not exactly. Marinette glumly rolled onto her side in her bed and glanced at the new comic book issue on her desk. Majestia had protected the city from harm but at the cost of the man she was in love with. After ranting with Alya for a bit after school the two had to go to their homes in time for dinner. Yes, this created more opportunity for depth to Majestia’s character but at the expense a whole other potential character? What a bummer. Marinette smiled a little to herself as she remembered Alya’s many choice words about this plot development.

As if thinking about her friend was a summoning spell, Marinette’s phone buzzed and with Alya’s name on the screen. She picked it up from her bed and rolled onto her back to read the message. She saw Tikki’s antennae twitch from where she was lounging on her nightstand but they quickly stilled as the peaceful kwami snoozed. Marinette tapped her screen to read the message. 

**[Omg Marinette you know how we both kind of hated the new issue of Majestia? Of course you do. But let me tell you, it has lead me to something beautiful.]**

[Huh??? What do you mean Alya?]

And that was how Alya introduced Marinette to the online world of fanfiction. It started simply enough. A fan as passionate about Majestia as Alya and Marinette already wrote an alternate ending to the recent issue that included more character development for Majestia and her lover boy plus took advantage of plot holes to make the differences seem completely feasible. And it was lovely. After browsing through the troves of Majestia fanfiction late into the night Marinette found herself curios about the all the other content on the site. What kind of stuff did people write fanfiction for? Books? Movies?

After a few more minutes online Marinette had her answer. People wrote about everything. Even real people. Marinette felt her eyes widen as she swiped through the different categories real people fanfiction fell under. Her face glowed from her phone’s faint light only to have it suddenly go dark when she slammed it face down into her covers.  
It was only for a moment when the girl suddenly brought the phone back up to her face to triple check what she thought she just saw.  
Ladybug and Chat Noir.

People wrote fanfiction about her. And about Chat. And about them together. Now she just had to investigate.

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The variety in the Labybug and Chat Noir category was insane. After spending a decent amount of time looking around and reading a bit here in there Marinette felt both incredibly flattered and a little creeped out. There were some younger authors who wrote stories about helping Ladybug or being saved by Ladybug or being friends with Ladybug and it made Marinette’s heart swell. She always knew being a hero meant saving the city and all the people in it. The time taken to craft these stories and their loving author notes made it much more personal.

There was one that read: Special thanks to Ladybug for inspiring me! She is so wonderful!!

And another: I’m sorry if this isn’t very good, Ladybug is just so great and does everything so well and if she can save Paris all the time than I can start writing so I can be a writer when I grow up!

On the flip side, there was also a lot of time and effort put into stories that were a little more…risqué. She tended not to click on those stories. Reading porn about yourself just seemed, really weird? Especially with a stranger. When it was written by that stranger. So weird. Even the brief summary descriptions made Marinette’s face flush.

_OCxLadybug. Chat Noir has vanished and Ladybug must rely a new partner to help her save Paris. But he is so incredible he can do it as a normal human and Ladybug is totally in love with him and never really liked Chat Noir that way._

_Self-Insert Story. Between the pressures of saving the day and being a celebrity icon of Paris, Ladybug relies on her civilian lover to keep everything balanced. Lemon._

The rating on that second one was enough to have Marinette scrolling rapidly. Too weird. Especially “lemon.” She had learned earlier in her fanfiction browsing what that word meant. I mean maybe eventually if she felt the urges she would read a “lemon” but about herself? Nu-uh. Her phone screen came to a stop over a new story. It was simply titled “Ladybug.” She read the summary.

_A devoted Ladybug fan’s musings. Thoughts and admiration on Paris’s favorite super heroine. Fairly plotless and heavily inspired from the Ladyblog updates. Really just writing this for me. Negative Ladybug comments will not be tolerated._

There were over a hundred people following the story and it had a ton of reviews and comments. It had a completely safe rating, no warning for anything kinky or weird. The fact it mentioned Alya’s blog also piqued Marinette’s interest. So she read it. All 20 or so chapters of it. The author commented on her strengths as a problem solver through all the successfully captured akumas and how something as simple as how she got around with her yo-yo embodied her powerful grace. The details were so vivid and thoughtfulness of each sentence and phrase made Marinette felt like she was being described by the most eloquent poet that ever existed ever.

Even though the sun would be rising soon, Marinette couldn’t calm down as she finished the most recent chapter. Her heart fluttered happily from the sincerity of the author and she realized she could look at their profile. Their penname was “Midnight Crest” and they had no description in their profile at all. Marinette almost sighed out loud at the sheer poetic mysteriousness of it all.

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After being a zombie at school all day, Marinette collapsed on her bed. She was supposed to go on patrol with Chat Noir tonight so as long as she set an alarm, she could probably get away with a nap. She unlocked her phone and the webpage she had been looking at automatically refreshed. It was “Ladybug” from the night before.

It had been updated. Recently. Within the last hour recently.

Suddenly a nap was the last thing Marinette wanted to do. She quickly clicked to the next chapter and began to read.

_**Author’s Note:** Just a short little drabble of something that crossed my mind today._

After reading the note, Marinette glanced down at the chapter. It was a lot shorter than the usual thousand word sprawl Midnight Crest tended to write. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to read it.

_My Lady. It’s a common enough nickname now for Ladybug. Even Chat Noir has been caught by the media calling her “My Lady” and a lot of news outlets adopted their own version of it, “Our Lady.” It hasn’t seemed to bother Ladybug, not from what I can tell from her interview at least. But I’m sure she had her own thoughts on the nickname. It’s almost possessive sounding, isn’t it?_

What would keep Ladybug from protecting our feelings like she protects our cities? It’s her selflessness that makes her ours, not ownership on our part. Rather, we are her city. She is a hero that we have the privilege to call ours. Maybe one day she’ll tell Chat Noir she is no one’s lady but her own. It’s that fierce independence that makes her the wonder she is. An individual so decisive and confident is like a wild stallion. They’re not meant to be owned by anything but the pure nature of existence itself.

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It was a warm night. Even feeling tired from not taking a nap, Ladybug couldn’t help enjoying the evening as she and Chat Noir made their rounds through the city. It helped she could think about Midnight Crest’s poetic words whenever the conversation between her and Chat dulled. After patrolling for years together and needing to keep your identity secret, there’s only so many things you can talk about. Plus, swinging from rooftop to rooftop wasn’t always conducive with small talk. Thinking about how each swing and graceful landing was a “piece of living art to relish if experienced in person,” was though, to Ladybug’s subdued but giddy delight.

Finally they reached the end of the patrol for the night and were on smaller building with a chimney they could lean against and give Paris one last look over being heading home. Right before deciding to call it for the night and tell Chat good night, he spoke first.

“Has that ever bothered you?” Chat Noir asked suddenly, without context.

“Hm?” Ladybug quirked an eyebrow at him, “What do you mean, kitty?”  


“Like that. How you call me kitty,” Chat’s bright green eyes seemed a little murky as he looked over the scenic view. “Does it ever bother you when I call you ‘My Lady’?”

“What?” Ladybug thought she misheard him. Chat turned and leaned against the chimney, more easily making eye contact with her despite their height difference. Ladybug traced Chat’s inquisitive expression carefully with her eyes. He waited patiently. Of course he knew she heard him.

“Uh, well…” Ladybug awkwardly exhaled in what might be considered a weak laugh, “It’s really funny that you ask me that today of all days.”

Chat tilted his head in a way that reminded her of actual cat, “What do you mean?”

“Well…” Ladybug stalled and her voice got a little higher. She began to explain uncomfortably, “You know how people sometime draw their favorite character from a TV show? Or make stories to continue a series that is already over?”

“Yeah…” Chat nodded, but his voice was cryptic. What did that have to do with what they were talking about? Ladybug sensed Chat’s confusion and quickly continued.

“So people do that not just about TV shows and stuff. They sometimes do it about real life and celebrities and stuff. You and I kind of fall into that celebrity status, you know.” Ladybug tried to gauge Chat’s reaction before she continued. He was strangely still, just watching and listening to her talk. It was a little unsettling to see her partner so static, so she composed herself and went on.

“Anyway, a lot of it is really weird. Especially hearing what so many people think of us, and me, and you in so much detail. But there is this one piece that I started following and it talked about the whole ‘My Lady’ thing today, too. What a coincidence.” Now Ladybug laughed a bit, relieved from explaining her strange confession.

“Oh,” Chat chuckled after seeming to take a moment to digest everything, “I never pegged you for a reader, LB.”

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As Plagg blinked, trying to orient himself from the detransformation, he saw Adrien stagger through his room and collapse onto his bed. The boy had voluntarily ended the transformation though. It wasn’t like he was going to run out of time, not without using cataclysm. Oddly enough, the kwami found himself more curios than hungry, so he floated next to Adrien to investigate. The teen picked his head up from lying face first in his bed to look at Plagg.

“She reads it Plagg,” Adrien’s whisper was strained. The kwami sat there unimpressed, needing more information about what the hell he was talking about.

“Ladybug reads my drabbles about her.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you like it! First piece of fanfiction I've written in a long time. It feels too detailed in places and I don't think I could ever write as poetically as Adrien could but I wanted to add something to the incredible fandom this is. Not sure how long this will end up being, but expect more!


End file.
